From Russia, Snowden does not defend every story that has been written, but he says he tried to design his actions to ­ensure that he was not the ultimate arbiter of what should and should not become public. “There have of course been some stories where my calculation of what is not public interest differs from that of reporters, but it is for this precise reason that publication decisions were entrusted to journalists and their editors,” he told Time. “I recognize I have clear biases influencing my judgment.”

That question of judgment is at the heart of the issues Snowden has raised. Polls still show Americans largely conflicted about the programs that have been revealed. Since the disclosures, a majority of Americans say they believe their privacy rights have been violated. But polls also show continued willingness to give up limited amounts of privacy as part of efforts to combat terrorism.

The most striking numbers show a generation gap in the way people think about Snowden. Just 35% of Americans ages 18 to 30 say Snowden should be charged with a crime, compared with 57% of those 30 and older, according to a November poll by the Washington Post and ABC News. And 56% of young adults say he did the “right thing,” compared with 32% of their elders. Younger people, who are moving away from Facebook and embracing technologies like Snapchat, which destroys messages after a few seconds, have also been shown to spend far more time than their elders tightening privacy settings on phones and apps. “Snowden is an effect, not a cause,” says General Michael Hayden, a recently retired director of both the NSA and CIA. “This new generation has a different take on where the appropriate line is.”

The shifts could have far greater implications than just what apps people choose for their smartphones. Historically, the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which offers no protections for non­citizens outside the country, has been the source of privacy protections under U.S. law. But the rhetoric now coming from European governments and even senior officials of the Obama Administration points to broader, as yet undefined rights, which several countries are now seeking to codify in ­international law at the U.N. “We must use the unprecedented power that technology affords us responsibly, while respecting the values of privacy, government transparency and accountability that all people share,” said National Security Adviser Susan Rice in a December speech.

Growing Up Online

Arundel Schools / Splash News / Corbis

Snowden dropped out of high school and got a GED.

The fourth American to attend Snowden’s October awards ceremony was Thomas Drake, who, like Snowden, was a veteran of the NSA and a former contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton. For years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Drake sounded alarm bells with Congress and the military about the NSA’s behavior, eventually deciding to give unclassified information about certain programs to a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. For this, he was charged under the Espionage Act on flimsy ­charges that fell apart in court but still caused Drake years of hardship. When the Americans walked in for dinner in Moscow, ­McGovern remembers that Snowden looked past him and focused on Drake, whom Snowden had never met before but had long regarded as a role model. “I was an inspiration to him,” Drake acknowledges. “He represents, for me, the future.”

Like Snowden, Drake grew up online, living his life inside the nascent Internet, finding friendships and forming an identity. His first computer, in the 1980s, was an Atari 8-bit. “I lived a double life, the virtual life in this digital space, in this transnational space,” says Drake, who is now 56. “It was unbelievable, this culture of sharing information.”

For Snowden, a high school dropout with a GED who grew up just miles from the NSA’s headquarters in Maryland, the Internet was also always a source of identity. His father, a Coast Guard officer, and his mother, a clerk in federal court, separated when he was young. As a teen, he spent years playing games online. As a young CIA employee in Switzerland, he vented and socialized regularly on anonymous chat boards. In this virtual space, national borders mattered less, and electronic privacy mattered more. By the time he had risen to become a senior technical consultant for the CIA, working as a Dell contractor, those values remained. “The one thing you resisted was this authoritarian power that wanted to own you,” says Drake, who will quote Star Trek and Tron to explain his values. “I was with the user.”

At some point in the coming months or years, Snowden’s fate will be decided. It is not clear if his asylum in Russia will be renewed. He continues to receive financial support from abroad, and a team of lawyers around the world is working on his behalf, pursuing other asylum applications and waiting on offers of negotiation from the U.S. authorities. Though the Department of Justice has promised not to apply the death penalty, no other offers of leniency have been forthcoming.

As the dinner wound down, ­Harrison, Snowden’s WikiLeaks adviser, explained to the group why she had put her life in legal jeopardy to help Snowden. “There needs to be another narrative,” she said in reference to Chelsea Manning, the U.S. Army private formerly known as Bradley, who leaked massive amounts of documents and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. “There needs to be a happy ending. People need to see that you can do this and be safe.”

Snowden, a libertarian activist who gave up his freedom only to live at the whim of an authoritarian state, has not fully succeeded in that regard. But he will not be the last of his kind, either. Both Assange and Laura Poitras, one of the first journalists Snowden contacted, say his efforts have already emboldened other leakers. “What Snowden did was really empowering,” says Poitras. “I mean, think of all the people who have security clearance. There are hundreds of thousands, millions of them. They see that this is really a historic moment, and they are starting to question their belief in the job they were asked to do.”

It is an odd corollary to this new era of mass surveillance: the same technologies that give states vast new powers increase the ability of individuals on the inside to resist. Those dynamics are fixed, a code that underpins the world we now inhabit. That is what Snowden ultimately realized and exploited, a matter of simple physics. His example is the most consequential and dramatic, but it is unlikely to be the last.

I would have liked to see Time have the courage to give Snowden the man of the year distinction. If for no other reason than that I think the issue of corporate and government snooping needs to be on everyone's mind.

PERSON OF THE YEAR is not necessarily a positive attribute. Hitler once was person of the year. I'd say, Snowden would be closer to THAT category than the positive one. Although nobody knew at the time Hitler became PERSON OF THE YEAR how brutal he would become, the writings were on the wall.

On August 17, 1975 Senator Frank Church stated on NBC's Meet the Press without mentioning the name of the NSA about this agency:

“In the need to develop a capacity to know what potential enemies are doing, the United States government has perfected a technological capability that enables us to monitor the messages that go through the air. Now, that is necessary and important to the United States as we look abroad at enemies or potential enemies. We must know, at the same time, that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left such is the capability to monitor everything—telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.

If this government ever became a tyrant, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology.

I don’t want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."

IS
THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY'S NAZI HERITAGE A FACTOR IN ITS CURRENT
CULTURE

At the end of
World War 2 the United States Army rounded up all of the Nazi
intelligence officers it could locate. The most notable individual
included in this group was Heinrich Muller who was know to be in the
custody of the US Army in December of 1945. Muller was head of the
Nazi Gestapo, the Nazi's homeland security service. Muller
participated in the planning for the extermination of Europe's Jews
and others the Nazis considered to be undesirable and ordered the
murder of may Germans who opposed the Nazis and may others. Muller
disappeared after World War 2 was never found and was never held
accountable for his crimes. There is evidence that Muller was
located in Washington DC, at Fort Mead between 1948 and 1952. Fort
Mead is the location of the National Security Agency headquarters.
Muller was also observed to be in the company of Allen Dulles who was
head of US National Intelligence after the war and was instrumental
in the development of America's intelligence community, including the
NSA, after World War II. Muller was said to be Dulles' right had
man, Muller was also Heinrich Himmler's right hand man.

Wow. Time really missed their mark on this one. Yes, the Pope was the clear choice if not for Edward Snowden. But lets be serious.... the actions of this man are monumental not just for the moment, but for decades to come. The involvement of two top world leaders, the nations top security agency and officials, congress, federal courts, the whole population of the United States watching, listening, learning, millions of national security documents in virtual limbo the list goes on and on. One of our nation's greatest assets suddenly exposed as one of our greatest weaknesses by a 30 year old with a GED and the brains to pull it off. There is no analogy to explain the impact of what Edward Snowden has done. Even the debate of right verses wrong will be analyzed for years to come. Conviction or amnesty? Previous winner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg could barely scratch the surface of Edward Snowden's actions. Ted Cruz.... a clown in the circus of American politics to sum it up in 10 words or less; enough said. I greatly respect the Pope and his influence on millions of Catholics in bringing the Catholicism into the 21st century. But Edward Snowden has redefined the world in the 21st century and forced us to reassess what we want to make of it. Winner.... Edward Snowden. Loser.. Time Magazine.

Snowdon has achieved notoriety and continues his treacherous path. The ex-NSA contractor has no scruples as he tries to sow discord through his revelations. As long as he is given asylum in Russia, he is relatively safe but how long will President Putin continue to protect him? Once a traitor always a traitor!

I would have liked to see Time have the courage to give Snowden the man of the year distinction. If for no other reason than that I think the issue of corporate and government snooping needs to be on everyone's mind.

The NSA and our Government should give Snowden the Medal of Honor for bring out their weakness in Protecting this Nation before they hang him for Treason. You have to admit that he showed us our weak points even with all the Trillion dollar machinery and Technical know-how. Basically we suck when it comes to common sense and human decency. It's always money, money by the jackasses. We have the worse politicians when it comes to honesty, morals or ethics. Our wars become entertainment while we kill innocent men, women and children and disrupt the lives of hundreds of million people including our own service men and women. And the laws we pass only favor money and the powerful. Our Presidents and Politicians lie without impunity. Maybe Snowden did us a favor even though as an American I think it was wrong.

WOW, the people of America never stop shocking me with their stupidity. You don't like the people in government, then stop electing old white men who only want to control you, remember slavery is still alive in their minds. LONG live the NSA and they should not trust any of you. YOU can't be trusted!!! Not even to pass a law that would stop the killing of our children in schools. Snowden should be in jail and I live for the day, they put that COWARD right where he belongs on death row. This man is just like a man carrying a gun into a mall, he has made it more dangerous for your children and their children. The girlfriends, wives, boyfriends and husbands are checking your email, phones and asking you where have you been more than the NSA. I know the court battle has begun for the NSA and maybe they think they have won, but they haven't just yet. People should be more concerned with stopping their children from taking their guns and injuring and killing the innocent. Focus on stopping government from making it harder to vote. Focus on stopping your daughters from having children at young age. Just saying if your not contacting terrorist, then worry about what's for dinner instead.

Edward Snowden managed to show the world that the emperor has no clothes. It's really ironic that in a world where our government spends billions of dollars to control the messages that the world sees and that most governments assent to, a young American manages to shatter this ilusion with the truth. While the US President keeps insisting that he will only consider vengeance againts the messenger that called his bluff, the world's opinion is reacting to the revealed truths and realizing that compasion, mercy and forgiveness are much better ways to solve our many problems. Mr. President, you really gave new meaning to your slogan, "yes we can."

Thank you, Edward Joseph Snowden, may you live long and prosper. PS please encourage the release of information regarding 911, for all those who believe the active involvement of our own government was the most massive heist of U.S. information, regarding the actual perpetrators, not just the purported hijackers.

Canonizing a person who purposefully wormed his
way through all our safeguards and oaths, systematically stole millions of secrets,
and took those secrets to our most ardent adversary is an affront to everything
our elected government has been doing to keep us safe in an extremely unsafe
world is wrong. His most ardent
supporters appear to be a toxic mix of either seething former government
insiders who now despise our system or people who know next to nothing about
what is really going on. This activist could
have become a potent force for corrective change within the US without stealing
and lying and fleeing to Russia, of all places. The only thing he has accomplished now is to make us look weak and vulnerable. His acts were clearly premeditated so it is
not possible to believe he acted alone or that he is the only worm. Spineless times we live in.

Besides being very frugal and kissing diseased homeless people, really just what has this new Pope done that can be considered a concrete achievement? Edward Snowden (on the other hand) has exposed a governmental police state in the making. We now are aware of the contempt congress has for the citizens that have elected it members. It appears to me that TIME has selected the Pope to lessen public push back and placate the religious right retards.

"What should distinguish democratic governments from totalitarian ones in an era of mass surveillance?"

Ed Snowjob cannot read the above quote from the article and infer "Sovereign Public;" and its ramifications such as self monitoring. He should have stayed in school and read the history lessons instead of passing a slow ball GED.

Snowjob reminds me of the kid who shows up late to the hunting party and shouts out "Be Quiet or THE DOVES WILL HEAR US !!" Yes Snowjob; we know.

Time... why is a man of Mendelian courage 2nd to a rich capitalist hating religious thug? Just because Pope Francis is a media darling and different from most popes? Well Edward Snowden is different from the common man; he put himself in harm's way exposing the atrocities of a tyrannical superpower. What did Francis do? Get elected pope and make a few pronouncements supporting the poor? Well bully for him, but that's not even close to what Snowden did - not even in the same universe. Get over yourself Time, your list done, for me at least. I'm no longer listening.

Appalling editorial COWARDICE on the part of Time. How they have fallen, how sad.

And.... "He pulled off the year's most spectacular heist" ?? A "HEIST" ?? That would be describing a bank robber or jewel thief involved in an activity for personal gain to improve their lives....

Snowden could not possibly have done this for personal gain and was well aware it would ruin his life to dare expose what was really going on at the top secret (laughter welcome) "Puzzle Palace" which, it turns out, was actually the "Contractor's Circus Tent" with perhaps your average Circus having better "security" than they did.

Go ahead "Time", play it safe. Even more reason to ignore you in the future.

The Internet has exploded with sources of information, the time of TIME...... is done.

"come to grips with this new surveillance potential in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks" -------- PAAHHAA! You really STILL believe the "official story" of 9/11?? Where have you been the last 12 years?

And as for person of the year, who has permanently placed his life at extreme risk on behalf of humanity? Snowden, who reminds me of Jesus far more than the Pope. Like Jesus, he was the same age when he set about telling the truth and making some very powerful enemies whom he has exposed as lying hypocrites and frauds. Forget Time's cheap tribute; this man should instead be recognized for sainthood, and will be, in the annals of history.

@andi-70 He obeyed his oath to the Constitution which he kept at his desk at the NSA. The founders would be throwing Snowden a party and asking when they were going to take down the neo american empire.

@andi-70 What makes you think he purposely wormed his way through our safeguards? He was an OUTSIDE CONTRACTOR, not even a full-fledged employee of the US government, and had access to the NSA programs that could have allowed him to spy on current friends, enemies, exes, you name it. Not only is the NSA grossly violating the Constitution, their internal security SUCKS. The story, as Snowden says it, was that he was an outside contractor who slowly realized how unethical the NSA spy program was on its citizens. And then leaked the information he knew to the press.

@WilliamHamilton Thank you for your post and "exposed a governmental police state in the making"

In 2003 the NSA was an essential tool in a war of aggression.

"During the Nuremberg trials, the chief American prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson, stated: To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

The NSA was a maggot that gutted our democratic principles.

After the WMD pretext for invading Iraq rang hollow we defaulted to "promoting democracy". We were going to democratize Iraq and the world so that people would become accustomed to democratic principles and act accordingly. Nations would then interact with each other according to democratic principles and the world would become a more peaceful place.

So it was in 2003. The US and Britain took their grievances with Iraq to the United Nations. The Security Council supported inspections and **voted** "serious consequences" if Iraq did not comply.

Bush and Blair wanted war but "serious consequences" was not language that legitimized invasion. So Bush and Blair went back to the United Nations for another vote - a second resolution.

There were two factions at the UN, one faction supported continued inspections the other supported immediate invasion.

The US was and is the champion of democratic principles. Behind the Electronic Curtain was/is the NSA.

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."-Joseph Stalin

Bush The Decider let loose his maggot and the NSA bugged the phones of the homes and offices of the UN delegations. The NSA also read the emails of the UN delegations. Those countries that were found by the NSA to be leaning towards voting for continued inspections were extorted, particularly through economic pressure.

Finally, as the day for the vote on the second resolution approached, the NSA gave it's count to Bush. Bush did not have the needed votes. The true act of voting was pre-empted and it was Decided that we had to pull the second resolution and substitute it with an illegal invasion - a War Of Aggression.

If the NSA had not gutted our democratic values and the second resolution had gone to a vote then Bush, no matter how criminally arrogant, would never have dared to invade. The UN would have explicitly and clearly voted against invasion. Inspections would have continued. Thousands of our soldiers would be alive today, tens of thousands of soldiers permanently injured would be whole today.

In 2003 the NSA was an essential tool in a war of aggression. Enveloped by the Electronic Curtain our belief and promotion of democracy is a true act of hypocrisy.

They are traitors because for more than twenty years they
have allowed their cronies in big business to ship our jobs and factories over
seas.There is no question that they
have been bought and sold by Wall Street.

They are Saboteurs because for the past five years they have
sabotaged the function of Congress and have (unquestionably) become the party
of “NO!”They continue to sabotage
every effort to put Americans back to work. Not because they believe that it is
in the best interest of the people, but rather they simply want to be contrary
and childish.

To me that is
clearly misfeasance and malfeasance and they need to be held accountable in a
court of law.

@Greendogo Hey Dogo, i think before you start criticizing the opinions, you should first think of the criteria involved in the processing of selections. Just like you've said, they are both 2 different people with different impacts of people lives in the Universe...... So please be calm and stop procrastinating

Ever heard of Thomas Drake or William Binney? They used to work within the NSA. They went through the system inside the NSA and tried to whistleblow that way.

Whelp, they attempted to prosecute Drake through the Espionage Act, but they failed because he had no connections with foreign players.

Binney, on the other hand, had a lovely welcome from the FBI. Pointed guns at his son, his wife and himself (he was taking a shower). Asked to spill "intelligence" on Drake so they could prosecute him.

Snowden did his research (said he admired the hell out of Drake, and was emotional when he came to award him with the Sam Adams award) and realized going within internal checkpoints would just isolate him as a target.

"Hey guys, I know I'm just a contracted and therefore have no power within the actual NSA or the larger intelligence community, but after sitting here at my desk for a few years and reading all these documents...I am pretty sure you are all violating the basic human rights of millions of people and that this has well-funded authority of the highest official order, starting over a decade ago."

@GaryRMcCray If it took this "Snowden" character to show you something then you really do have your head in the sand. Where were you when the Patriot Act was passed. Also, you are wrong some secrets are more important than people.. It just depends upon the circumstances. If Snowden is your hero then the possibility exists that you may need to evaluate some things again.

One does not need to be American to see right from wrong. As a fair minded person, one sees how Snowdon abused the trust placed on him. He simply blew it and has only himself to blame for his current difficulties with the American Administration. Divulging your country's secrets to foreign powers is certainly not done.

@DaaC@andi-70 The Americans are paralyzed by the fear their government could turn into Talibans or worse. They have totally lost their sense for reality. That fear makes them buy guns like idiots: We have defend ourselves against an oppressive government. It's kind of in their genes. One of their greatest President's, Lincoln, was called a tyrant by his clueless opponents. They call Obama now "Emperor", not as bad as tyrant, but the same idea. History repeats itself.